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January 6, 2017

Not in any particular order, here’s my top 5 books I read within the last year or two that has made me better at evaluating my actions (why I do something, why I react a certain way, and so forth) and how I can continually work to be better for myself and in turn for my family and friends. Each book touches on something different – our job, our personality, our choices, the world we live in, and our daily lives.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

By: Susan Cain

This book I actually bought for my sister and later borrowed, now I wish I have my own copy. Being a textbook introvert myself this book spoke to me, sang to me, if you will. I always thought there was something wrong with me being shy at a young age and even after graduating college I still felt being quiet was something I needed to grow out of or that I needed to change. Lo and behold this book happened, it opened me up to finally embracing who I was. I became more aware of how and (more importantly) why I felt a certain way and what I needed to do to be better. Even if you yourself are not an introvert, what about your girl/boyfriend, family member, or friend? This book helps a great deal in how to approach and understand introverts in your life and/or work space.

Stumbling on Happiness

By: Daniel Gilbert

As the title states, this book is focused on our obsession for achieving “happiness” and what that really means. It’s sectioned into six parts with a total of 11 chapters. This book goes in depth on each idea, but does it in a fun way paired with relatable graphs/charts/drawings that have made me chuckle a number of times. Another thing I found fun to read were the real life experiments they conducted. I did find I read this a bit slower than The Power of Habit (below), and not to suggest it was less interesting or boring, it just took me more time to take in all the information in each chapter. I also started to go back and add post-it notes to passages I enjoyed. It’s one of those books you can come back to to refresh your thinking without feeling like you need to re-read the entire book again.